Monday, October 29, 2012

I often get questions sent to me from followers of my blog and thought for today's post I would answer some of them. Maybe some of you have the same questions so check it out.Q-I want to build my chest but my triceps always seem to get fatigued before my pecs when I liftA- This does tend to be a problem for many lifters as people can tend to be dominate in their triceps. Below are some things you can do to help this.#1-Use the 1/2 press technique when benching-This emphasizes the bottom portion of the press which is when the chest does more work compared to the lockout when the triceps get involved more.

#2- Do negatives-By focusing on the eccentric ( lowering ) part of the movement you can help hit the chest with less worry about the triceps. Have someone then either spot you on the concentric ( pressing up ) part of lift or just press part of the way up.

#3- Pre-fatigue the chest- is pre-fatiguing a certain
muscle of a body part (e.g., chest, legs, deltoids) using an isolation or
"single-joint" exercise first and then finishing with one
"multiple-joint" movement. For this situation do a chest fly first followed by a dumbbell chest press. By doing this you will keep your triceps from fatiguing before the chestand forcing you to stop the press.

Q- How can I get lean legs without them looking too muscular?

A- I hear this question a ton from women and you just need to remember the following quick points.*Weights make you tight and firm, the cardio will keep your legs thin and lean.

*Eat right to stay tight

Q- I just dont have enough time in the day to workout for an hour so how can I get results?

A- First, thing you need to answer is how important is it to you to reach your goals? If the answer very, then you need to make sure you prioritize your life so you do have time. Second, you dont need an hour in the gym to get results. It is not about how much time you spend working out but what you do with the time. Spend less time talking, reading or messing around and more time getting work done! Start doing super-sets and tri-sets and keep moving especially if your goal is fat loss.

Monday, October 22, 2012

I recently started programming this type of formatted workouts for a couple of the girls I train and they instantly fell in love with it. This format calls for a heavier upper body day with a lighter leg focus and then workout 2 is the opposite. I think this is a great format if your goal is overall body composition and you are looking to drop body fat. Try mixing in these type of workouts every now and then.

Finish with-
One arm kettlebell walk-go about 20-30yds, drop the kettlebell and do a plank walk with crossing the arms over one another back to where you started, then sprint back and pickup the kettlebell and put it in the other hand and walk back, then do the plank walk back and then sprint. Rest 90sec. do this 3 times

C1) One arm reverse lunge with kettlebell or dumbbell ( hold kettlebell in left arm and lunge back with the left leg and then switch arms and legs )-10 eachC2) Lateral pushups-( do a rep amount to each side that is difficult for your level )
** 0-60sec rest depending on level

D1) TRX row with palms up-12 repsD2) Skier jumps with goblet hold using a dumbbell-10 each side
** 0-60sec rest depending on level

Finish with-

Sprint-distance equal to 50 yards ( even if its 25 there and back or however you need to break it up depending on space )Farmers walks-same distance
Rest 1 min. Repeat for 3 rounds

Thursday, October 11, 2012

1) Mixed grip chin-up
* Perform this by keeping one hand facing away and one hand facing towards you. The arm with the palm facing you will get a little more work and will help you make progress into doing one arm chins. Make sure you do even amount of reps on each arm. Start your weaker arm in the palms facing towards you position.

2) Incline bench pressdowns
* Place an incline bench in front of a cable pulley station so that when you sit you will be facing away from the pulley. Make sure the pulley is at its highest point. Grip a bar and with your arms tight to your sides extend your arms. This is just basically a simple press down done on an incline bench.3) Overhead figure 8
* Great exercise from Chad Waterbury in which you hold two dumbbells with elbows locked overhead and walk in a figure eight pattern. The distance should be about 5 yards or so. Make sure the arms stay overhead and elbows locked while palms face forward the entire time.Walk for time or for a certain amount of figure eight reps. This is a great way to hit the core and rotator cuff since the figure eight pattern increases the stability of the exercise. 4) Serratus Crunch
Hold a pair of light dumbbells and lie on your back. As you crunch up keep the dumbbells perpendicular to the floor and keep your palms facing one another. Once you get to the crunched position try and reach your arms as high as possible for a couple of seconds. If this is too easy then take your feet off the floor. Working the serratus will help your bench and keep your shoulders healthy.

Monday, October 8, 2012

1) Orgain protein shakes-I am a big fan of ready to drink protein shakes for the times when you cant blend your own and need something post workout. The problem is most ready made shakes are awful and are filled with chemicals and a bunch of things you cant pronounce. Orgain tastes great, and not only gives you protein but has the antioxidant equivalent to 10 fruits and veggies. http://www.drinkorgain.com/

2) Mix 1-This another favorite of mine in terms of ready to drink shakes. Mix 1 does have more sugar than the above Orgain but it still is made with simple ingredients and tastes great. http://mix1life.com/

3) Hint Water-Sometimes you want something more than water, and that's when Hint hits the spot. I will say that the taste isn't for everyone but I love it. The water is flavored with naturally and is not sweetened.http://www.drinkhint.com/

4) Nebraska Bison- Jerky makes a great high protein snack and bison is one of the best meats to eat since its low in fat, high in protein and high in Omega3s. Nebraska Bison brand is one I think tastes great and even though it is pricey it is well worth it. http://www.nebraskabison.com/

5) Preacher curls-Still one of the best ways to build your biceps and below is one of my favorite workouts.

* start with the most weight, every time you increase the reps drop the weight by 5-10lbs totalSet1- 6-8 repsSet2- 6-8 repsSet3- 8-10 repsSet 4- 8-10 repsSet 5- 12 repsSet 6-12 repsSet 7-drop set, cut the weight by 10lbs and see how many reps you can get right after finishing set 6*** Take 1 min of rest between sets

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Solution-Start doing chest presses with dumbbells instead of the barbell. The increased range of motion that the dumbbells provide will let you stimulate more muscle fibers which equals more growth! Also, start adding in some more incline work to build the thickness around the clavicle.

Problem B) You cant reach your fitness goals

Solution-I have three words for you-

ACCOUNTABILITY-You need to hold yourself accountable for your actions or lack of. If you cannot do this then you should either hire a great trainer or start working out with a partner or group.

COMMITMENT-You must commit to your goals from day one and let nothing or nobody stand in your way of succeeding.

CONSISTENCY-You will never achieve what you want if you are not consistent in your actions. Be consistently healthy and get your work in the gym and kitchen to reach those goals.

Problem C ) Trying to eat right is too hard and eventually you give into the cravings which ruin your gains.

Solution-Focus on eating right 90% of the time and splurge the other 10% During the week anytime you get a craving or really find yourself wanting to lose it simply write down the food and tell yourself that you can have it just not at the moment. When your cheat day comes go back to that piece of paper the food that you wrote down. This will not only keep you sane but will allow you stay committed to the healthy eating plan longer. Remember though you need to be spot on with your 6 days if your going to be allowed a day 7 cheat day.

Problem D) You cant gain any size on your legs

Solution-Make legs a priority and start training them 2-3x a week. It becomes real easy to skip a leg day knowing the pain that will follow those deadlifts and squats but you need to change that mindset. Mix up your workout will heavy low rep days and higher volume and higher rep days. Big thing to remember is you need to eat,eat and eat some more. Legs workouts really amp up the metabolism so feed your legs!

Problem E) The woman's dreaded three- hips, butt and thighs. You cant seem to tighten, firm and cut fat from these areas.

Solution-Number 1,2 and 3 starts will simply eat better! If you dont eat right then you wont drop the body fat. Next, make sure you get a nice blend of cardio and strength training. I like to say that the weights will shape and firm up the legs and the cardio will keep them thin and small. In terms of your strength training aim to do leg exercises at different angles in order to hit all aspects of the muscle.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Sometimes people forget how simple it is to progress your workouts to get better results. On principle that cant be overlooked is the law of progressive overload. This states that to get an adaptation, the training session provides a certain overload. You need to increase the difficulty or stress of each workout if you want to see gains.

Here are some ways to progress

A) Progress with reps-Most basic of progressions. Your goal is just doing more reps with the same weight over a time period. You can only progress like this for awhile before your gains become stagnant. Example:

Week 1-6 reps with 100lbs

Week 2-7 reps with 100lbs

Week3-8 reps with 100lbs

*Just make sure you stay in the rep zone to get the training effect you want. Meaning, don't progress from 10 reps to 15 reps if your goal is gaining muscle.

B) Progress with weight-This is also another basic progression. You simply add weight while keeping the reps the same. Just like above you can only progress for so long before gains slow down else we all would have huge benches by the end of the year just by adding weight. Example:

Week 1-6 reps with 100lbs

Week 2-6 reps with 105lbs

Week 3-6 reps with 110lbs

*Once you get to a certain point, maybe 2-3 weeks you can switch to a different progression type and do for example the following

Week 1-6 reps with 100lbs

Week 2-6 reps with 105lbs

Week 3-6 reps with 110lbs

Week 4- 4 reps with 115lbs

Week 5-4 reps with 120lbs

C) Progress with sets-This is a way to increase training volume. This is when you increase the number of sets per muscle group or lifts. Example:

Week 1-8 total sets per muscle group

Week 2-10 total sets per muscle group

Week 3- 12 total sets per muscle group

* Of course this too cant be done forever without creating a negative effect after a while. I wouldn't go past 16 total sets for large muscle groups and 12 for smaller for the most part.

D) Progress with rest-This is reducing the amount of rest time between sets while keeping or increasing the work being done. Example:

Week 1: 1 minute rest intervals

Week 2: 40 second rest intervals

Week 3: 30 second rest intervals

* Again, this setup has its restrictions since you cant keep reducing the time forever and too little of time will make it tough to perform maximal lifts if that is your goal.

E) Progress with techniques-You can use things like pre-exhaust/post-exhaust, tempo training, super-sets, drop sets and much more. All of these type of techniques are very tough on the body and should not be overdone.

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About Me

I'm a personal trainer working in Chicago. I hold a Bachelor's degree in Kinesiology from University of Nevada-Las Vegas. I am a certified trainer through the American College of Sports Medicine and also hold a certification through Titleist Performance Institute as a certified golf fitness instructor. I have been in the training world for many years and have worked in high end spa clubs, private personal training studios as well as major chain gyms.